


A Brother's Love

by Paradoxikalli



Category: RWBY
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Aromantic Asexual Fox, Coco and Fox Are Siblings, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 03:13:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14761529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paradoxikalli/pseuds/Paradoxikalli
Summary: Growing up, Fox and his sister were inseparable, but he knew that would change. He knew that someday, Coco would fall in love and drift away from him. When she started dating Velvet, he knew that day was closer than ever. That was fine; he knew Velvet would make her happy and treat her right. Still, letting go of the most important person in his life was harder than he'd ever imagined. Watching Coco and Velvet's relationship grow was heartwarming, but it still had that bittersweet echo, and he couldn't stop bracing himself for the moment when his sister would outgrow him.He should have known that neither Coco nor Velvet would ever leave him behind.





	A Brother's Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm still alive. Just dealing with a metric fuckton of stress and writer's block. Still, here's a thing for you! It's three parts; I'm polishing the second and almost done with the third, but the post times will be a little spread out anyhow. 
> 
> As you all know, Crosshares is my OTP. As you may also know, I see Coco and Fox as Those Friends who are so close that they act like siblings. I figured I'd run with that a little bit. This is essentially Fox's perspective on Coco and Velvet's relationship, as a whole and at specific points. It's a little different than my usual style, but I hope you enjoy it!

Fox never knew his birth parents. He knew nothing about them other than that they were where he’d gotten his name: Fox Alistair. He wasn’t too familiar with the parents who adopted him when he was two either. But then again, neither was their actual daughter.

 Fox was raised with a girl his own age. Their parents were always working, leaving them to their own devices. Therefore, trouble started following them when they were young, and it had been continuing to follow them ever since.

 Genetics didn’t matter. Last names didn’t matter. The girl Fox grew up with was absolutely his sister. She was his best friend, and sometimes his only friend. Her name was Coco Adel. They were the same age, with the only difference being that Coco was a few months younger than Fox was. 

 Right from the start, it was obvious that they’d be close. If one was in trouble, the other backed them up. Bullies learned very quickly that messing with one sibling earned the fist of the other straight in the face. If one was in detention, the other was typically making faces from across the room. Their childhood evolved in a mostly typical, uneventful manner.

 One topic though, that they established early on, was that one thing was strictly taboo in reference to each other: anything relating to adoption. Even in situations when others in their shoes would use the “(s)he’s adopted” line as a joke because the other sibling was being annoying, or in the heat of an intense argument with each other, they didn’t. They chose actual insults instead. When someone asked if they were adopted siblings, the answer was somewhere along the lines of “technically, but not really” but in slightly more elaborate terms, followed by a warning to never say that again because it was offensive to them. One of the most common reasons one or both siblings got in a fight was because some kid who had already been warned teased them about being adopted siblings, not blood siblings.

 With that established, life went on. High school came, and within the first month, Fox realized there was a division between him and his sister. Not a problem, but a difference.

 Neither had cared about relationships in middle school. They were too busy getting into trouble on all fronts. That lack of interest didn’t change for Fox, but when high school started, he quickly noticed a change in Coco. More than that, it was a different kind of change than most teenage girls. He figured it out quickly, even before she did. He could pinpoint when she realized it herself because he noticed new emotions in her eyes: fear, confusion, doubt, minor self-hate, internal conflict…he could tell she was scared of it, of what she was, of what people would think of her, and of what her brother would say.

 Fox saw it in her eyes. Once he realized she’d privately accepted it, he noticed that she was nervous around him. That was something completely new, and Fox didn’t like it. He didn’t like that his little sister was afraid he’d judge her because she wasn’t the same as most of the girls at school. He hated that she was so afraid of herself, so uncomfortable with her own identity, so full of borderline loathing toward herself for not being interested in the gender society pressured her to be with, that she was irrationally paranoid he’d think less of her for being the way she was.

 He could have confronted her, but he decided to wait for her to come to him. He didn’t want her to feel cornered, nor did he want to scare her or call her out. He chose to wait for her to be comfortable enough with the topic and its relation to herself to come to him, bring it up, and talk about it.

 And one day, Coco did come to him. She walked into his bedroom looking nervous, almost to the point of tears. He pretended to not know what was wrong and told her to sit down. She did, although she looked very stiff. Then she met his eyes with a rare expression of intense fear, and she told him something she thought she’d kept a secret from him:

 “I’m a lesbian.”

 And she’d looked so absolutely terrified that Fox had laughed, pulled her in for a hug, and admitted to knowing. He said he could tell and she didn’t have to be afraid, and he promised to personally escort anyone who bothered her for it to the trash can where they belonged, which made her relax completely.

 After that, Coco quickly grew more comfortable with her sexuality, and eventually became open with it. She came out to their parents and to her friends, and she was soon so at ease with it that she started openly flirting (sometimes excessively) with strangers and friends alike. Fox was proud of her for overcoming that obstacle and told her so several times. She always told him it was thanks to his support, then hit him if he tried to gloat.

 Then came college. They lost their parents to a car wreck and inherited a fortune, so they bought a small off-campus house to live in. It was a pretty nice setup all around. They had physical space and an emotional connection. It worked.

 But before long, Fox realized things would eventually change. He still wasn’t interested in relationships or sex himself, but he could tell that his sister felt something was missing from her life. He knew there would come a time when some woman would walk in the door and he’d have to let go of Coco. There would be someone who would take her away from him, and he’d have to accept that.

 It began when he had a friend and classmate over to work on a school project.

 She’d be here any minute. Fox knew that. Velvet Scarlatina was always prompt. Now he was going over the boundaries with Coco, hoping his words would sink in but knowing they wouldn’t.

 “Okay Coco. Rule one. And…pretty much the only rule. She’s my friend, and since you’re my sister, what are you not allowed to do to her, or any of my friends?”

 “Ehh…you got me. Help me out.”

 “You are not, under any circumstances, allowed to hit on any of my friends without my permission. Ever. So don’t flirt with Velvet. Got it?”

 “Depends on if she’s cute,” Coco said. “Is she cute? C’mon Fox, show me a picture! Please?”

 Fox groaned but took out his phone and obediently pulled up Velvet’s Facebook page. Coco took a sharp breath.

 “Oh wow, she is…wow. Very cute and hot at the same time, which is amazing. Like…damn. Is she straight, or do I have a shot?”

 “I dunno. It didn’t come up in conversation, and you’re _not_ allowed to hit on her.” He put his phone away as he heard a car pull into the driveway. “Now you will go behave in your room while we work on our project. Got it?”

 “Ugh, yeah, fine. Lame!” she replied as she walked away. Fox sighed and went outside, where Velvet was getting out of her car. She smiled at him.

 “Hi Fox! Is something wrong?”

 Fox winced internally at the reminder that Velvet had a very strong Australian accent, which Coco would undoubtedly fawn over when she came out of her room to completely disregard her brother’s only request. And he knew she’d come out.

 “I just…came out here to warn you before you come in,” he explained as she walked over to him.

 “Warn me about what?” She tilted her head.

 “My sister. She…how do I put this…she’s not allowed to hit on you, but she’s going to anyway, because that’s what she does. She made me show her a picture of you, and I could tell by her reaction that she’s gonna flirt with you,” Fox said.

 “O-oh.” Velvet blushed. “Is she…um…?”

 “Yeah, she’s a lesbian.”

 “Well, uhh, that too. But…I was gonna ask…is she…?” Velvet’s blush deepened as she trailed off.

 “Oh dear God…” Fox closed his eyes and put a hand to his forehead in disbelief as realization washed over him. “You’re trying to ask if my sister’s hot.”

 “Um…s-sorry…that’s probably weird...”

 “No, it’s fine. You’ll decide on your own, I’m sure. She won’t be able to stay away from you.”

 “And she’s…our age, right?” Velvet asked nervously.

 “Yeah,” he told her, meeting her eyes again.

 “Okay good. Just…making sure.”

 Fox had a feeling there was going to be more flirting than working going on today, but he still led Velvet into the house to sit on the living room couch, where he’d already set up his laptop on the coffee table. Then he turned to his friend, who kept looking down the hall.

_We’ve been in here for less than a minute and Coco hasn’t even made her appearance yet, but Velvet’s already impatient to see her? Is this really a thing that’s happening? Can this please be a nightmare?_

Fox pinched his own arm. Much to his dismay, the scene stayed the same.

 “Okay, so…project,” he reminded Velvet. She nodded, blushing as she turned her full attention to the screen. She did glance at the hall every now and then, but Fox ignored that.

 They managed to work for five minutes without interruptions, but inevitably Fox heard his sister’s footsteps approach and stop in front of the couch.

 “Hey Fox. Who’s your beautiful friend, and why haven’t you introduced me?”

 Fox held in a groan and looked up. As he did, he saw that Velvet was staring with a light blush on her face.

 “Coco, this is Velvet. Velvet, Coco. There, introductions are done. Go back to your room and let us work. You’ll just distract Velvet by constantly flirting with her if you’re out here.”

 “No, it’s fine. She can stay,” Velvet said quickly. “I’m sure I’ll still be able to focus with her here.”

 Fox definitely didn’t miss his sister’s slight but legitimate swoon at the sound of Velvet’s voice, nor did he fail to see that Velvet’s motive for letting her stay was clearly physical attraction.

_She’ll be able to stay focused with Coco here, huh? I call bullshit on that._

 “Thanks, cutie,” Coco told Velvet with a smirk and a wink. Velvet’s lingering blush deepened and she quickly looked away from Coco with a shy smile.

 “N-no problem!”

 “I’m going to make some tea,” Fox announced, standing as he decided he already had to take a break from this. “Coco, behave.”

 He’d barely been in the kitchen for one and a half minutes when he heard his sister come in.

 “Fox. I have a very urgent message,” she said seriously. He turned around to face her.

 “What?”

 “You can’t be friends with Velvet anymore.”

 “You want to hit on her that bad?” he asked.

 “Well, sort of…”

 “Sort of?” He raised an eyebrow.

 “I already did,” she admitted.

 “Coco, I’m so done with you.”

 “So…she’s definitely not off-limits?”

 “Why do I even bother setting limits with you? And how do you manage to hit on her enough to tell me you broke the only rule I gave you in less than two minutes?”

 “She’s very attractive and I just can’t help myself.”

 “Fine, whatever. Hit on her. Go for it. You’re going to anyway, so I don’t see why I should try to stop you.”

 “Great, glad we got that outta the way! Love ya!” Coco plopped a kiss on his cheek and walked out. Her brother just sighed heavily and continued making his tea.

 When Fox came out of the kitchen, he was promptly greeted by the sight of his sister sitting on the couch right beside Velvet, one arm around her shoulders. Velvet was blushing violently and not resisting in the slightest. In fact, she even seemed to be leaning toward Coco.

 “Let me guess…” Fox said. “The shoulder game?”

 “Yeah,” Velvet admitted. “No one’s ever done it with me so I didn’t know and…now she won’t move.”

Fox highly doubted Velvet had tried very hard to detach herself from Coco, if she’d even tried at all.

 “Game’s over. Time to get up, Coco,” he ordered.

 “Just sit on her other side,” Coco told him. Fox glared at her but obliged, setting his tea on the coffee table.

 As he tried to work on the project, Fox noticed that Velvet was much more focused on whatever Coco kept whispering in her ear than what she actually came to do. Her face stayed flushed and she was giggling frequently with an almost constant smile on her face, probably due to Coco’s words and the fact that the fashionable woman kept nuzzling into her, even brushing light kisses over her cheek and neck every now and then.

 “Coco! Goddammit, I said you can hit on her, not occupy her attention completely!” Fox finally snapped, fed up with it. “We’re supposed to be working on this project!”

 “Hmm…you should’ve thought about that before you decided to bring such a hottie here while I’m home,” she replied. Fox glared at her, but she ignored him and whispered something in Velvet’s ear. Velvet’s smile widened and she whispered something back before snuggling closer. Coco smirked and kissed the side of her neck while Velvet reached over to run her fingers up Coco’s thigh to her hip, then took her hand.

“That’s it!” Fox shouted, jumping up. “I can’t take this anymore! Velvet, get out! Coco, stay put!”

“But—”

“You heard me!” Fox cut Velvet off. “I’ll text you about our project. But right now, you need to leave!”

Velvet’s reluctance was clearly overpowered by fear because she released Coco’s hand and squirmed out of her embrace before darting out the door and driving away. Coco stood and glared at her brother.

“Way to go, Fox!” she snapped. “You chased out a potential date. Congratu- _fucking_ -lations on being an asshole brother!” She stormed off to her room and slammed the door.

By the next day, Coco had given up her anger in favor of whining about not getting Velvet’s number. Fox put up with her complaints, then finally got to escape when he left to meet Velvet in the library to work on their project. He lied to Coco about who he was meeting though, because he wouldn’t put it past her to follow him, wait five or ten minutes, and “happen to” show up so she could keep flirting with Velvet.

Fox set up his laptop on a library table and Velvet sat beside him a couple minutes later. Fox knew she wanted to talk, and he knew what she wanted to talk about. Furthermore, he knew she wouldn’t be able to focus on their project until they got that conversation out of the way, so he resigned himself to the discussion.

 “I take it you’re not straight,” he said bluntly, getting right to the point.

 “I’m not,” she admitted sheepishly.

 “And you think my sister’s hot.”

 “Y-yeah…very…”

 “And you’re into her…how?”

 “What do you mean?” Velvet asked.

 “As a relationship, a one-night stand…?”

 “I…I’d honestly like to try dating her. She seems really fun, and…I dunno. But…she never even tried to give me her number, and I don’t know if she’d actually be into me or if she was just flirting with me because of how I looked…”

 Fox sighed heavily and ripped a page out of his notebook. He pulled out a pen and wrote Coco’s name and phone number, then handed the paper to Velvet.

 “She’s into you. She freaked out when she realized she didn’t give you her number or ask you for yours, but she refused to let me give her yours because she’s weird. If you’re into complete dorks who act cool but really aren’t, you’re okay with her taking you shopping all the time, and you’re comfortable with excessive PDA, text her and make her stop whining about missing her chance with you. It’ll make her day to hear from you.”

 Velvet blushed slightly but smiled as she looked at the paper, then up at Fox.

 “Thank you…”

 “No problem. Now the sooner we get this project done, the sooner you can text her, so let’s work.”

 There was a pause before Fox smirked.

 “And for the record, how you look just started it. She loves your personality too, but what initially made her stick around was your accent.”

 “My…my accent?” Velvet asked with a confused frown.

 “You really didn’t notice?” Fox raised an eyebrow. “Every time you said something, she got this…sort of dazed expression. So your looks caught her attention, your accent kept her interest, and your personality got her hooked.”

There was a pause before Velvet shook off her blush and took a breath.

“Fox, I was wondering…I don’t want to seem offensive, but…um…you and Coco…your last names are…well…” Velvet trailed off.

“Her family adopted me when I was two years old. But the word ‘adopted’ is taboo to us. We’re siblings, not adopted siblings.”

“Alright,” Velvet acknowledged with a smile. “I’ll be sure to remember that.”

* * *

It took less than a week for Coco and Velvet to cement themselves in a committed relationship. The nauseating flirtation was lowered to a tolerable level (in Fox’s presence, at least, though he couldn’t speak for how they acted when he wasn’t nearby) and the two women settled into a level of comfort with each other that Fox deigned to call them soulmates. He’d never liked the term or considered it plausible, but they certainly provided convincing evidence.

Besides, he’d never seen Coco as happy as she’d been since she started dating Velvet.

Currently, the three of them were sitting on the couch in the Alastair-Adel house, watching a movie on TV. Fox had kicked back with his feet on the coffee table with a large (albeit half-empty by now) bowl of popcorn on his lap while the couple cuddled into each other, sharing their own popcorn. A commercial break started at a rather inopportune time in the scene, making Coco groan loudly.

“What’s with these idiots?” she complained. “There’s a perfectly great place to break in _two fucking minutes_ , but they just have to play this ad now? I’m never eating at that place again! They completely ruined the movie!”

Fox rolled his eyes at his sister’s drama, knowing she’d forget her vow in a few days and stop at the restaurant displayed in the offending ad for ice cream. He leaned over to Velvet, who was between him and Coco.

“Such a dork,” he muttered in a tone too low for Coco to overhear despite Velvet being cuddled into Coco’s side. The brunette gave a silent giggle and nodded agreement as Fox leaned away again.

“Hey, Coco…” Velvet said.

 “What?”

 “Your brother says you’re a dork. I think he’s right.”

 “‘Dork’ is code for awesome,” Coco claimed.

 “No it’s not,” Fox put in helpfully.

 “Shut up, Fox!” Coco protested indignantly. Velvet giggled and Coco clearly made an attempt to stay annoyed, but she failed completely. Fox snickered at the fact that his stubbornly “tough” sister was already this soft for Velvet.

She proceeded to throw a handful of popcorn at his head. Naturally, he responded in kind, and Velvet jumped up to avoid being caught in the crossfire, laughing at the siblings’ antics. It didn’t take long for both bowls to be empty, but Coco didn’t let that be the end of it; she leaned over and put her upside-down bowl on her brother’s hair, dumping the crumbs on his hair.

“I’m so done with you,” he grumbled, removing his unwanted hat.

 “Aw! Love you too, Fox.”

The three of them spent the next twenty or so minutes cleaning up the mess of popcorn, after which Fox lost the rock-paper-scissors game to decide if he or Coco got to shower first; Velvet didn’t have bits of popcorn stuck in her hair like the two of them did, so she didn’t need one. While Coco was in the shower, Velvet changed into the pajamas she’d brought (it was her first time spending the night, but unsurprisingly considering how close she and Coco already were, she didn’t seem nervous about sharing a bed) and sat at the kitchen counter beside Fox, each of them with a cup of tea. There was a long silence.

“Fox…” Velvet caught his attention softly.

“Yeah?” He turned his head to meet her eyes. Her gaze was steady and serious despite her blush.

“I…I think I’m falling in love with your sister,” she confessed.

“I noticed,” he replied, turning back to his tea. “And I noticed that she’s falling in love with you too.”

_Falling harder and faster than I’ve ever seen. I’m glad she found someone wonderful, someone she trusts wholeheartedly, someone to love who deserves her and will love her back just as much. Someone she can become closer to than anyone else._

Fox took a sip of his tea, closing his eyes,

_Someone she can become closer to than she is to me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Incipiency (n): The state or fact of being incipient  
> Incipient (adj): Beginning to develop or exist


End file.
